As the global skills shortage worsens and companies desperately search for the hottest talent to exploit the economic recovery, they are looking increasingly to recruit and retain younger workers.

Recognising a solution and doing something about it are entirely different things, with more than more than half of global companies saying they are facing problems, according to a study by consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers.

And it’s all the younger generation’s fault.

The arrival of a new generation in the job market, the so-called Generation Y, has caused problems for companies with most not knowing why and how and how they are different from their Generation X microserf slacker predecessors.

Where the Generation Xers, those born between 1965 and 1976, are characterised by independence and scepticism, the Gen Yers, born between 1977 and 1997, are characterised by inspiration and passion.

They need to know, excuse the pun, why things are happening as they are.